Increasing emphasis is being placed on optimized engine transmission management for the actuation of automatic transmissions or automated transmissions in vehicles. In order to ensure that the driving machine operates in accordance with a characteristic curve of optimum efficiency in the characteristic diagram of the driving machine, a characteristic curve of optimized consumption or some other desired criterion, it is necessary also to take into account a series of peripheral conditions which at least indirectly exert an influence on the mode of operation of the driving machine. In addition to the peripheral conditions which occur at the vehicle and are to be taken into account, for example, the connection and disconnection of secondary assemblies, the peripheral conditions which are not specific to vehicles also play a significant role. These include, inter alia, the condition of the route, in particular information on the inclination of the roadway, which result either in an increased or decreased power demand and thus an increased or decreased power requirement on the driving machine. A device which reliably senses the inclination of the vehicle with respect to the horizontal even under the influence of the velocity and acceleration of the vehicle has not been known hitherto. Sensing by means of specific resources, for example a pendulum, is possible, without additional plausibility checks, only in the stationary state, and when the vehicle is being driven is not possible however without taking into account the driving velocity and acceleration, which are expressed in complicated computational models. In a parallel unpublished application, it is proposed in this respect that the inclination be determined from the difference in altitude between two reference events, the difference in altitude being determined for at least two different reference events, characterizing the locomotion state of the vehicle in the driving direction, from the overall air pressure which respectively prevails at the vehicle. In each case the altitude of the vehicle above zero is determined for the first reference event, and the second altitude h2 is determined for the second reference event, from the respective pressure values—first pressure value p1 for a first reference event and second pressure value p2 for a second reference event, from the barometric altitude formula for the gravitational pressure in air. The two reference events also characterize, either directly or indirectly, a reference distance Δs which is characterized by the local distance between the position of the vehicle with respect to both reference events. The tangent of the angle, characterizing the inclination N, between the horizontal and the roadway, and thus the angle α for the inclination of the roadway with respect to the horizontal, are determined from the quotient formed from the difference between the altitudes—second altitude and first altitude—and the reference distance Δs. The sensing of the inclination of the roadway in a vehicle always takes place here between at least two reference events, but a multiplicity of individual sensing operations, and thus a multiplicity of assessments of successive reference events which are performed one after the other may also be carried out for precise sensing. However, the possibility of ensuring a precise determination of the altitude is dependent to a considerable degree on the positioning of the inclination or pressure sensor.